Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-07-13
THAT PETITION.
To the Editor OF the Eagle.


In Sunday mornings EAGLE you say, re
ferring to the petition for police commits
sioners, "a copy of the petition has not ye
been secured but it will be, and the names
the names of minors with the rest-all pub
lished"
AS my name was not on that petition, fol
the simple reason that / was absent in New
York when it was sent up, desire to pu
myself right before the public as one of thu
petitioners.
For number of weeks you have been at
tempting to intimidate the petitioners and
their friends by applying to them the pleas
ing epithets of ''cranks, 'fools," fanatics
and other honorable and complimentary
terms. You have asserted, and reiterated
with emphasis, that not one of them ever did
anything toward the building up of the city,
or the advancement of its interests, socially
morally or commercially. When you pro-
cure copy of that black list your eyes will
doubtless open to the fact that the subscrip-
ton list to the EAGLE, as we'll as its adver-
Using columns, would be considerably de-
pleted were their patronage withdrawn.
Whether the support of the EAGLE for many
years past has contributed anything toward
the building up" of the city, leave to your
own judgment.
If you were willing to publish not only the
names of those who signed the petition, but
also those who would have signed it, had the
| law required it, and had an opportunity been
offered, you would doubtless have to
enlarge the EAGLE until it
would look more like city directory than a
metropolitan newspaper.
When the fact is known and admitted that
it is impossible to ride from your office to
the Santa Fe depot, down the center of our
principal street, la feet in width, without
inhaling the fumes of sour beer as they float
out upon the evening air-not only down
stairways and through dark alleys, but from
rooms on the ground floor, without even
screen between the sidewalk and these saw
dust covered open joints, it seems time that
something were done to protect the city from
such reproach
If you deny that such state Of affairs
exists, invite you to seat in my carriage
any evening you may name, and will prove
it to you.
Do you not know that thousands of people
have come to Wichita from the beer and
whisky ridden communities of the east in
order to escape their baleful influence: They
relied upon the laws of Kansas for protsc C.
ton, and they relied, cir, upon the statements
of the EAGLE that the law was enforced.
No sooner was the new mayor and council
installed in office than, with one sweep,
every ordinance that tended to restrain the
liquor traffic was wiped out, and the city was
left at the mercy of the jointists, and the
gamblers, thieves, and robbers which these
joints are daily Matching out. And yet you
would have us rely upon this same mayor and
council for enforcement Of law and order. We
have no protection, whatever, except under
the laws of the state. We have no officers to
enforce the state laws, except the
police commissioners. These were
duly and properly appointed by
the executive council, composed Of the gov
ernor, attorney general and secretary of
state, officers elected by an overwhelming
majority of the voters Of the state of Kansas.
This tribunal was provided for, and the
law under which they act was passed, by
legislature duly elected by the people No
abiding citizen will oppose its enforce
ment. No honorable man will besmirch the
character of those who ask for protection
under it. 1t is as much in accord with the
sentiment of "a government of the people,
for the people, by the people," as is any act
Of congress, approved by the president.
The doctrine Of estate rights" as opposed
to the higher right of the federal govern
ment, is dead, decayed and forever buried.
Your attempt to raise the relationships OF
s'city rights" as against the 3Fereign
power Of the state will be no more success
full There Is no principle in 1t
There is no reason to support it. There is
nothing to animate or give life to such an
issue but the passions of men in sympathy
with saloons and free whisky. So far as you
are concerned, personally, the case admits of
this simple diagnosis:
LIST. You are the author of Wichita'S great
ness
ID You hold the sceptre of her present
power.
Sd. A ''fool legislature elected by major
ity of the fool people, has, without your con-
sent or advice, enacted this law.
4th. Your domain is thus being invaded
by the power of the petty state of Kansas
which, in your opinion, has no right TO tres
no Of mir
you, like Gulliver's queen, are outraged by
this impertinence, and you appeal to the
pref udice of the army of Little Indians to
resent the insult!
In making this, the first defense of the
heroic two hundred and fifty who signed that
petition, | am aware that | shall PROBABLY
draw the fire of all the batteries of the local
press. have no organ to reply to your
broadsides. l shall only hope to
win a martyrs crown, and, like the famous
Winkelreid, gather your spears into my hos
ON for the benefit of the cause.
With full knowledge of the consequences
bid you blaze with your serted columns"
but when the smoke o, battle shall have
given way before the sunlight, may you re-
joice with me in contemplating the sublime
spectacle of redeemed Wichita; her shining
towers ard lofty battlements rising proudly
before the gaze of an admiriDg nation, and
hiding beneath their shadows dens of drunk
enness and debauchery. II. ". LEWIS.
\ REPLY.
In .hnua lot. Of
Col. Lewis Is very remarkable produc-